Synchronized divers Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook serve up first U.S. medals

SAINT-DENIS, France — Kassidy Cook and Sarah Bacon won silver in the women’s 3-meter synchronized springboard event on Saturday, securing America’s first medal of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Their five-dive score of 314.64 put Americans on the podium in this event for the first time since 2012, as Bacon and Cook sandwiched between the gold medal-winning duo of Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen (337.68) from China and bronze-winning Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen (302.28) of Great Britain.

For the duo, dubbed Cook N’ Bacon, familiarity and friendship were key ingredients for their winning recipe, according to the divers, who have been friends since they were children and diving as a pair since 2019.

“I mean, I’m ecstatic. I’m overcome with so many emotions right now,” Cook told reporters. “You know, to be able to go up there and perform [and] put together a solid list and end up on that medal stand with one of my best friends feels amazing.”

The reigning world champs, Chang and Chen, led wire-to-wire but Bacon and Cook said fighting to keep up with the powerful Chinese duo helped them secure silver.

“Obviously, we were diving behind the great team of China, so they were putting a lot of pressure on us,” Cook said. “But seeing them hit their dives made us eager to hit our dives. I think that they made us better and I’m really happy to take away that silver.”

The 29-year-old Cook, who lives just outside Houston, competed in Rio in 2016, making her the first U.S. diver to compete in nonconsecutive games.

“And then we found out after that we are the first medal for Team USA, which is an even more awesome feeling,” Cook said.

This event has been held seven times in Olympics history and a duo from China has won six of those competitions, only failing to take the top podium spot in 2000.

Bacon, who narrowly missed making the U.S. diving team for Tokyo, said that disappointment turned into a blessing.

“Yeah, I mean, we ended up not making the Olympic team in 2020 and my plan was to retire after that Olympic Games,” said Bacon, a 27-year-old Indianapolis native.

“I was burned out and ready to be done. So not making the Olympic team kept me around diving and brought me to this Olympic Games with Kassidy. To be on the award stand with the silver medal is just unbelievable. I have no words to describe it right now.”

Both competitors said, in hindsight, missing out on Tokyo led to a better outcome.

Saturday’s action unfolded to loud, raucous cheers for all competitors, but particularly for the Chinese, the Americans, the hometown French and the Ukrainians.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Cook told NBC News later Saturday. “Those games [in Tokyo], although they were still the Olympic Games, they were not the true experience. And had we gone to that, we probably would have retired because we [would have] accomplished that goal.”

She added: “I’m really glad that we held on and made it here.”

Cook now has the rest of the Olympics to unwind and cheer for her teammates. Bacon is still competing, in the individual 3-meter springboard, which starts on Aug. 7.

Once the Olympics are done, both women will have tough decisions to make — about where to put the medals in their homes.

“I want to put it on display,” Cook said. “Maybe I’ll have to make a trophy room centered around the silver metal.”

“I’m going to need to clear out a spot in my house before I can figure out exactly where I’m going to put it,” Bacon said. “Maybe on a frame on a wall somewhere? It’ll be the center point of something.”